We’re looking at Alabama in 2024 and 2010, the last three losing regular seasons

This has been a rollercoaster of a football season, to say the least. And it’s the first time in 14 years that Alabama has lost three games. Before we go any further, we should all take a moment to realize how crazy this is. Now back to the actual question. Alabama doesn’t have a game this weekend and that’s a real shame. So I decided to ask a hypothetical question to pass some time. If you compare the 2010 season to the 2024 season, which would you prefer?

Before we get into that, I want to say that I’m only talking about the regular season. College football and its postseason are so different that they are not even remotely comparable. With that out of the way, let’s break down the two seasons.

In 2010, Alabama completed its first national championship of the Nick Saban era and was ranked No. 1 entering the season in the preseason polls. The season took a bad turn after the SEC game, which, like this year, resulted in all three of Alabama’s losses. But the losses were very different than this year. Here are the wins and losses to get you going.

The rankings next to the team names were the rankings when Alabama played those teams. Pretty tough schedule in 2010. According to TeamRankings, Alabama had the sixth toughest schedule in the country that year. Alabama lost its first game of the year against South Carolina by 14 points (35-21). The other two losses, LSU and Auburn, were a 3-point loss and a 1-point loss, respectively. You probably remember the Auburn game well. You know, the game where Alabama was up 24-0 midway through the second quarter before blowing the lead and losing 28-27. And Auburn ended up winning the national championship. Bad times.

One thing I will say about this season is that the narrative from some Alabama fans that other Alabama fans are being irrational for expecting more than 9 or 10 wins in Kalen Deboer’s first year is stupid. Yes, it would be irrational to expect an undefeated season in the first year. And if you just look at the record, 9:3 isn’t bad. But not taking into account the losses and their occurrence is just as stupid. Now that I’ve got that out of the way, let’s look at what I’m talking about.

Another tough schedule. TeamRankings currently has Alabama with the second-toughest schedule in the country. This is helped tremendously by the fact that South Carolina was unranked when they played Alabama, but has since moved into the top 15. The biggest difference between 2010 and 2024 was where the losses occurred. Losing to Tennessee isn’t good, but it’s understandable. I could even give you Vanderbilt. They played well, things weren’t going Alabama’s way early, Vandy got going and Alabama could never get it back. Again, not good, but I can almost understand it. However, there is no defense for the loss in Oklahoma. It was terrible.

Let’s compare the two seasons a little. In 2010, Alabama lost to three good teams. One of them eventually became national champion. But two of the three defeats came to the main rivals. The biggest of these eventually became the National Champion. Can you tell I’m still not happy about this? The regular season records of the three teams that beat Alabama in 2010 were 31-5. Very strong. None of the defeats were overly disappointing in terms of play. The disappointing thing was that there were defeats against rivals and winnable games.

There was still a loss to a major rival in 2024, but it was a one-score game in which Alabama played absolutely terribly. The loss to Vanderbilt was also a one-score game, with Alabama giving up the most points to an opponent all season. Then the Oklahoma game. Not just a loss, but a huge loss. Worst loss I can remember in my life as an Alabama fan. Click here if you are still suffering from mild post-traumatic stress disorder. The regular season record of the three teams that defeated Alabama in 2024 was 22-14. Significantly worse than the 2010 season and clearly shows how disappointing the two losses against Oklahoma and Vandy were. Both teams finished 6-6.

So the question is: Would you rather have the 2010 regular season or the 2024 regular season? 2010 ended with defeats to rivals in winnable games. There were two terrible losses to bad teams in 2024, plus one loss to a rival. In my personal opinion, as bad as this season was at times, I would still give the 2010 season a run for its money. A loss to Auburn always makes a season bad. And the 2010 loss was disappointing in its own disappointing way. Alabama had just won a national championship the year before and was once again the favorite to win before the season. The 2024 season had some of the worst moments I can remember, but also some great moments. An instant classic win over Georgia, a blowout over LSU and a win in the Iron Bowl. The highest of highs and the lowest of lows.

As I write this, I realized that it’s probably a bigger debate than I realized before writing it. So where are you? If you knew everything about both regular seasons, which would you pick? At the end of the 2010 regular season, Alabama was ranked No. 17, a fair bit lower than where they will be ranked after the poll is released Tuesday night after the 2024 regular season. I’d like to know how other Alabama fans feel about this. Get in touch and let’s discuss!